1: Two women plan on marrying next week in Greece. They’ll be Greece’s first gay wedding (note: Spartan men and residents of Lesbos didn’t marry each other, just enjoyed each other’s company). The two plan on exploiting a little known loophole in a 1982 marriage law that does not specify man + woman = marriage. Good work, ladies. We hope that the American penchant for loopholes that resulted in our bloated legal system doesn’t make its way to the Mediterranean. Birkenstocks for everyone. The Associated Foreign Press gives a good run down of the scenario...

2: The US’s largest Lutheran group is going to stick to its guns on this marriage = 1 man + 1 woman thing. A taskforce for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) was pretty confident that this was still the right way to go. The group wanted to point out that they were not condemning same-sex relationships just that their reading of the scripture went in one direction. And their tightrope walk did not go unnoticed. The pro-gay marriage Lutherans didn’t think it was good enough and the ‘conservative’ Lutheran groups thought it went too far afield from traditional interpretations. Damned if you do/ don’t, again. Next year the group is going to make a recommendation on gay clergy. That should be a barrel of laughs. Read more from AP on the gay wedding non-ruling…

3: In Victoria, Australia gay and unmarried couples will be able to sign up with the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriage. This was a hotly contested vote. The usual fight, institution of marriage vs. inclusivity, was the focal point. Just worth a mention, Australia has more than two political parties: Labor was fully in favor, the Nationals were largely opposed and it was a bit of a mixed bag with the Greens and Liberals. The law gives non-married couples some measure of legal protection but falls short of all of the perks of a standard marriage. We wish that there were more Registrars in the US. You only get registrars and bursars in college. The Age does a good job of explaining this new bill...